5 Controversial Psychology Experiments That Would Never Happen Today

[@davidndiulor8428]

Participant: (sobbing) I can't believe I just killed that person. Milgram: woah, chill out - it's just a prank bro.

[@taitjones6310]

You've been punked!

[@anduro7448]

Sounds like your avrage youtube prank channel

[@kimzastrow1268]

Seriously

[@Grabbearjet]

lmao that gave me a huge laugh, thank you sir.

[@fartballs9]

"YO YO YO IT'S YA BOI, MILGRAM, BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH ANOTHER E P I C PRANK!"

[@zriyazira]

A good way to avoid bystander effect in others around you is by giving specific people tasks such as, "you call nine-one-one" instead of "someone call nine-one-one." This ensures the task is more likely to be done since the person feels that responsibility falls on to them. Also, simply knowing about bystander effect can help you to avoid it.

[@timkramar9729]

No, it's not my problem and none of my business. I would ignore it.

[@JoeyvanLeeuwen]

huh i never considered this but that was part of my CPR training years ago!

[@icarusbinns3156]

This also spawned the ‘What Would You Do?’ tv show. One of my psychology classes in college did a smallish Bystander Experiment. We were to ‘trip’ along one of the sidewalks, and see how quickly someone would help. And we added different things, like: a bright jacket, a load of books, using crutches, etc. we found that women were more likely to get help. Smaller people would be helped faster. And if someone had a known medical condition, help was almost instant. Also, it depended if we yelped or cried out as we fell vs if we were silent. It was an interesting experiment. I kind of enjoyed it…

[@serenkeating7672]

Yeah, this was one of the things that was drilled into my head as part of my CFR training with the Order of Malta.

[@timkramar9729]

@@toptengamermoments I don't expect to be helped. I expect everyone to take advantage of me. That person's not coming to help, but to rob me.

[@MeisterHaar]

you missed some important points on the little alberd. he was later not only afraid of rats but also of any fluffy animal and in the end he even was afraid of beards. little albert later died at the age of 6. also his mother was a nurse at the hospital Watson worked as a doctor so she probably never really had a chance to consent.

[@JG-gg7fb]

Albert's story is such a sad one :(

[@siriustheislandprotector9720]

Sniffylocket 151 dunno, maybe died from the fear of mice? (Joke)

[@SraTacoMal]

Omg poor baby!

[@wellesradio]

A short miserable life. Thanks, science!

[@thegeorgiemoore]

Late af but I swear I read that at the time of the experiment she was actually at university and had him at the universities day care centre and that’s where they picked up little Albert? I also read that she didn’t actually know of the experiment at all until the day she pulled him out of it.

[@burcebanning]

I was dead ass like "why does this guy look like off brand John Green" then realized it's his brother LMAO

[@규현찾으러수만리]

OFF BRAND JOHN GREEN- you did not just tell us you thought he was like the cheaper version of a John Green

[@thewanderingmistnull2451]

Yeah, that's ridiculous. John is clearly off-brand Hank.

[@burcebanning]

@@규현찾으러수만리 he just looked like John Green but slightly off for me 😂

[@user-fo8lz6om7l]

This whole thread. Beautiful.

[@Mikelaxo]

Who's John Green?

[@coolnerd8730]

I once saw an experiment involving elementary school students and their eye color. They made blue eyes superior to brow then switched to brown being better than blue. It was a powerful thing to see.

[@janellethebelle3536]

That is what is happening today with CRITICAL RACE THEORY.

[@niharbehere1584]

Abigail S. Critical race theory is simply “different races exist, and we need to acknowledge that” and NOT “this race is better than this race”

[@wisteria3032]

also completely unhetical because the children couldn't give any kind of consent but especially because they weren't informed of it being an experiment or even a game. they were debriefed afterwards but that's too little

[@terradraca]

Fun fact, there was a later experiment similar to the milgram experiment except this time, they wanted to know what personality types were more likely to rebel against the "authority figure" so they got information from friends and family about the subjects' personalities. The result: The people most likely to refuse to shock the person were described as outspoken, opinionated and confrontational. So yeah, those annoying people always making long winded speeches about what's wrong with the world? They may annoy you, but they're almost the most likely to stick up for you against authority.

[@mistertheguy3073]

But is it good that they would stand up against authority

[@suntank6]

When appropriate. When authority is acting unethically or illegally.

[@mistertheguy3073]

***** then it's good but when do those people think when something is unethical? if they for instance allow industries who produce meat?

[@mistertheguy3073]

McGlow true but everyone has a different perception of good and evil

[@jonanice]

Derren Brown, Heist special? Yeah, he hypnotised them after to undo the effects he may have caused on their minds though after the various tests so that was cool.

[@Xacris]

Milgram did a lot of variations of that experiment, and most of them had varying results. When you take all of the experiments together (not just the widely publicized one), it actually shows that people DON'T respond all that well to authority (almost everyone refused to go further when told "You MUST continue"), but they can do some awful things if they believe what they're doing is for the greater good.

[@lalliku]

Actually the bystander effect could be explained by Cialdini's "social proof". In an unknown or unfamiliar situation, we observe others to adapt our behaviour, because most of the time, the behaviour of the majority is the most suited. It's not just that we're waiting for an other person to act, we're in fact not sure how to react so we observe others. But if the others are also observing, it can lead to a situation where nobody moves and looks around, a collective incapacity.

[@cherylbaker3319]

I feel this sounds obvious as if might be wrong and stupid fool for missing the point, but in the bystander effect of which crowd size affects responsibility of self to say or act or respond to be a ratio observed easily, how does this effect miss the fact that if we were in situations of which response is essentially always a possibly known/unknown of awareness here, but despite awareness, it be potential danger/threat to us and being alive is kind of; the core of every single one of us as overall we did have Darwin kinda speak on this evolutionary survival which yes, is our alert system inbuilt to keep survival instinctual, and maybe bystanding is not really about responsibility but leaves a great huge hole as to why people wouldn't react.. As also if the scenario controlled 100% risk to any danger to us I'm sure responsibility then would be a ratio of people reacting be majorly and anyone else be choosing to not react despite it costing nothing to what sounding like those labelled in "Sick/C**t" terms. Am I missing entirely out reason or something thinking that perhaps we do not respond in our own chance of instinct to survive, be sounding a huge flaw over putting it really to responsibility and crowd size, as doubting my whole understanding of this because it sounds too obvious to me? As your comment actually read to me as what the effects of crowds do on influence us to bigger crowd number, quicker we feel uncomfortable to oppose. And bystander responsibility easily could be that known fact; especially if increase numbers are decrease oppose; essentially react as different to and reading this I feel you tapped on a huge missing gap as well.. I think this effect based more on the two missing factors explaining why no one responds instead it be sole responsibility causal alone. As I know and admit the other 2 are my own reason if not respond in situational theory here, responsible I feel is not going to be first calculated nor really would be in mind when mid-witnessing, I would feel responsible to do what to equally be each persons minus the group of minority, in feel responsibility to react in situations. Anyone like they deserve some label of more human iinstinct as hero when in situations where such person often runs into the knowing of how actual death risk is but however they do so in order of saving another life, and heroic is these rare types, sacrificially a saint like non-human instinct based persons we do name as heroic but hear in news a single act of what is going against survival and truly they are so few they do have name read or highlighted across our massive population, rightly so, but shows some reason linking to that in a rare responding few are the norm against what is shift of responsible to another, as few in population respond because of instinctually driven most are to get from threat to safe in anything of life..

[@laurenbruges8784]

Also diffusion of responsibility. Assuming someone else will step in leads you to stand back.

[@froggybug]

Like 50-leven folks standing around watching a cop kneel on a mans neck and MURDER him instead of mobbing the cops to stop them.

[@spikedthenuke7383]

@@froggybug wow you just changed the whole world with your comment *sarcasm alert*

[@fdp6517]

Very interesting thanks for sharing this perspective!

[@chrisjager5370]

The Stanford Prison experiment was also deeply flawed -- the students realized what their boss wanted and played along with it, which negates most of the value of the experiment.

[@ThruThe9]

In the 7th grade spelling bee, I was asked to spell Pavlovian. I got it right, now I get nervous when I hear that word.

[@genshinreads6024]

ThruThe9 okay... I'm sorry but why?

[@KendlickLama]

Xandra M. Read the comment or watch the video

[@Tropicallyglutenfree]

Clever

[@abdurrahmanbausing5023]

@@genshinreads6024 can you explain?

[@genshinreads6024]

Swift Abduction No I can not. I, to this day, do not understand

[@Jeddostotle7]

You seemed like you were going to touch on it, but you didn't, so I'll mention it: Another one of the flaws of the Stanford Prison Experiment, aside from those that you mentioned, is that the subjects did not in any way represent the whole of humanity. They were all white, American, college-age, relatively affluent cis males. That is a very specific demographic, and the results of how one subset of humanity that has been raised in a relatively specific way acted in that experiment cannot be used to represent how all of humanity would have. Add that to the other flaws, including impartiality of the experimenter, and the ethical flaws, and you've got one of the worst, most flawed, least accurate experiments of all time. Sadly, there are people who ignore everything wrong with the study and say it "shows the true nature of humanity". Those people generally also interpret Lord of the Flies as doing that, as well.

[@rickson50]

you're joking right? Every single one of those people were unique with different lives, ideas, feelings. Adding more variables would not have helped the experiment. It would have hindered it when people like you showed up to scream racism. Experiments need as little variables as possible. Making the subjects more alike would have actually helped the experiment. Later on in a follow-up experiment variables could be added but not the first one because then you wouldn't know what's causing what to an even greater extend. "is he beating up that guy because that's just what people ultimately do or is it because he's racist, or because he doesn't like that ethnicity, or that affiliation, or his hair, or his education level, or how much money he has, or because he's 'prettier', or the state he came from..." welp great you're desire to find racist white cis men has now overloaded the experiment with variables and now it's all meaningless.

[@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901]

why would you have trans people!? there are so few there would be no point

[@Jeddostotle7]

rickson50 It's not "my desire to find racist white cis men", it's me saying that if they wanted an experiment that would fully encompass what humanity overall would do in such a situation as the one they set up, they shouldn't have chosen people with such a similar background. Of course the subjects were all unique people, but their psychology and mindset is largely informed by their upbringing; there is a great chance that someone who grew up poorer, or otherwise more disadvantagedly, would react very differently. It would be JUST AS STUPID to extrapolate the results to represent the entire population of Earth if the experiment were performed with all black, Canadian, middle-class, trans, bisexual women in their 50's, as it would be when the group is how it actually was in the experiment, a bunch of white, American, college-age, straight cis men. That's saying nothing of the fact that, to our knowledge, the experimenter likely guided the subjects towards certain actions, further removing any credibility or legitimacy the experiment had. Who knows if the experiment would have become quite that much of a shitshow had the experimenter remained more impartial and, you know, stayed an observer to the events that unfolded, as an experimenter should? If the experiment was to see how people of different backgrounds would react to the environment of the experiment, sure, you could do different groups made up of different demographics. But, if the experiment was to see how humanity overall would react to the environment of the experiment (as it was *supposed to have been* in the real experiment), it would only make sense to have a group as diverse as the humankind you're trying to extrapolate this experiment to represent.

[@sirsanti8408]

But thing like racism or homophobia and various predjudices could have affected the expirement

[@JohnPellman]

In addition to this, there were myriad other issues with the Stanford Prison Experiment, including the fact that Zimbardo and a student (Jaffe) had actually conducted a pilot study that indicated what the results would be in advance and yet they still went through with the main experiment. See the " 'Prison' Perspectives" section of this issue of Stanford's alumni magazine for further discussion: alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=45051

[@hufflebuffben]

For the Bystander Effect, I actually have called 911 a couple times because I know about it and I reasoned "it's better they get a few calls than none at all." If I didn't already know about the Bystander Effect, I'm not sure if I would have done the same thing. I hope I would, but we'll never know for sure. But I do know I helped at least once because I found out, while I was on the phone with 911, that I was the only one in the immediate area with a cell phone. I could have just walked by. So don't let the Bystander Effect get ya, be the help.

[@ihaveagun22]

i knew the Standford prison experiment would be on here before i saw it

[@woodsplitter3274]

That and the Milgram study.

[@seanpaul7305]

Sick 🤙

[@ybfromoblock3381]

Wood Splitter yeah weird how I knew of those beforehand. And the bystander one.

[@Insertia_Nameia]

When i was a yoinger teen I first learned about it by watching a movie from Germany that was based on this experiment. Afterwards I looked it up to learn more.

[@maxfotoalbum243]

the study was later actually debunked as it turned out the lead researcher had pushed the prison guards to be more forceful with the prisoners. The same study was repeated later by BBC iirc but because the guards weren't influenced by anyone to treat the prisoners harshly, they ended up being very friendly, sharing food and playing cards with them. This made for bad TV of course so the show was discontinued I believe

[@doczero1296]

I like pretending to be smart while watching these videos.

[@ariwiner969]

I don’t think he truly went into how cruel the Stanford Prison Experiment was

[@karlrovey]

It didn't even study what Zimbardo claimed he was studying. He claimed it was about prison conditions. Due to his meddling with his own experiment because it wasn't initially showing the "innate cruelty of humans," it became a compliance and conformity experiment. According to a similar experiment in the UK, there wouldn't have been problems had Zimbardo simply been an obssrver rather than suggesting the guards be more aggressive and stirring up trouble. According to some interviews, the participants figured out what Zimbardo wanted from them and played their parts hoping for good grades and approval in return.

[@uv-al]

Even though it was cruel, I still think it was important. It tought us alot about psychology and pulling experiments.

[@char1211]

@@uv-al It really didn't though, it was a horribly constructed experiment so in the end it wasn't even testing what it was supposed to and came to no reliable conclusion other than "in some circumstances humans can become very cruel" which we all already knew

[@hamishfox]

The only thing it taught us is that Zimbardo is a complete hack and will do anything to get the results he is looking for. The experiment is completely useless.

[@espiritu2757]

@@uv-al No, it was just sick. We learned nothing new and Zimbardo is seriously troubled.

[@klattalexis]

The more I learn about people, the more I like my cat!

[@Snaperkid]

Your cat thinks you're an idiot. Source: every cat I have ever had.

[@Miranox2]

You give it free food, comfy home, baths and you clean its filth. From the cat's perspective, you're a sucker.

[@garethdean6382]

The more I learn about people and cats, the more I like dogs. You have to clean up their messes too, but occasionally they bite people you don't like.

[@videogyar2]

Cats don't care about their owners. Hell, they don't even think they have owners. They think they own you.

[@garethdean6382]

Viktor6665 They care a LOT about you. Specifically what you'll taste like when you finally fall down and stop moving.

[@Cuddlestrike]

i believe that most of the criticism the milgram experiment got was because that a great many people just simply didn't like the conclusions of that experiment. no person in that experiment actually reported that they somehow were permanently damaged by the experiment itself. each participant was also debriefed after the experiment was over, as to assure that they hadn't actually hurt anyone. it was more that it was just uncomfortable while it was going on. yet, most people choose to stay and continue the experiment, even though they could say no and choose to leave(which some did). which is exactly why this experiment is so interesting to begin with. when people are confronted with negative or uncomfortable truths about themselves which doesn't paint them in a good light, they will usually fight it, instead of trying to learn anything from it. and when you got a society very much based around authority and obedience on so many levels, and an experiment like Milgram's shows up and starts to probe that very notion, of course people will object to it. but that's a more political question than an ethical one. was the Milgram experiment unethical? not so much. did we learn some uncomfortable truths about the average human being? yes, very much so.

[@paulmahoney7619]

Making someone think they killed someone is a bit morally questionable.

[@Cuddlestrike]

+Paul Mahoney so is keeping pushing the button that actually kills the person. Yet, most keep people kept pushing that button. And like I mentioned, they were all briefed as soon as the experiment was concluded about what had just happened. They got to meet the person they thought they were giving electrical shocks and informed of what they were a part of. No person were left with actual psychological trauma, although they might have learned something new about themselves for participating in the experiments, and as such might have been changed by the experiment.

[@TehPompkinHead]

+Paul Mahoney if you ever get the opportunity to watch the move, "the experimenter" it covers his work pretty well

[@Edgewalker001]

Technically, the authority figure also got to verbally order the subject to continue with the experiment three times every time he or she expressed concerns, with the last one being a noncommittal but still unyielding statement to the effect of "You MUST continue the experiment." I'm frankly surprised anyone backed out at all, but I guess there will always be heroes. Since those are so few though, you can usually find them in unmarked graves, if they're lucky someone writes their names on a wall somewhere... =p

[@daveh4461]

I recall reading about that experiment a few years back. If I recall correctly, the reason this experiment came into existence was to explain how and why German guards in WWII could put so many people to death in the camps. It showed that people could detach themselves emotionally from the actions they were performing, as long as you followed the reasoning of "I was just following instructions."

[@anduro7448]

Nr 1, Why couldnt they use a pozitive feedback like in pavlovs dogs Example: Every time he touches the rat he can have a candy bar.

[@Welshey]

That's operant conditioning, not classical conditioning. It's not what they were trying to study

[@tidepodpadthai2633]

He would probably be too scared to do it anyway

[@robertpryor7225]

Or an angel gets its wings

[@maryparrish1426]

Something you failed to mention with the Milgram experiment is that when the test subjects were told they HAD to finish, almost all of them refused. It was only when subjects were given free will that they took the experiment to the extreme.

[@wisteria3032]

somehow understandable. thinking about relationships rn. A wife tells her husband "thake out the trash". He knows it's his job. He knows it needs to be done. He doesn't like her tone so he doesn't do it. A wife says "do whatever you want" and there he is taking out the trash, saying sorry, asking what's wrong and overthinking what he did. I have seen it happen (in various contexts - thankfully none so serious as killing someone) enough time to wonder about it. Is it a problem with authority or is it that when instructions and consequences are not well defined they are so much scarier than when they are?

[@chidubememma-ugwuoke9660]

@@wisteria3032 or maybe because humans like to be in control but that’s just a guess

[@firecracker6377]

I watched this video and then the next day, my psych teacher asked us about these exact experiments. Needless to say, the teacher was impressed.

[@MollyBoBolly6252]

yeah the prison experiment was crazy. especially since the guards were also coached on how to behave, and the dude who had the breakdown and left later said he was pretending to break down because he had an exam to study for or something.

[@bulldawgguitar]

I may be a little late but there are some discrepancies in the video. John B. Watson never unconditioned Little Albert because he was never given the chance. His mother took him one day and ran off somewhere. If I'm not mistaken he did the same thing to another child, but was given the opportunity to un condition him (doesn't change the ethicality of it, however). 2nd, subjects were debriefed at the end of the Milgram experiment. They all met with the actor and were told that they did no harm to him. Milgram knew that he didn't want people walking around thinking that they had, or still could, harm people so mindlessly.

[@SaraS-jq1ln]

Those aren't discrepencies, they told the correct facts. They just left out some details on what happened after

[@asmrtpop2676]

Ever been abused? Like... I have good and bad memories with my abusers. It’s because abuse is a cycle. Reconditioning isn’t gonna be the same as before the baby was conditioned to be terrified. If anything he will lose trust in himself to know when something is scary or not.

[@Rowow]

9:50 "you cannot do this study today" Most police officers and prisons replicates this study every day

[@LightningSe7en]

Not only that. It also applicable to a lot of heirarchical systems.

[@guyshepard9658]

Have you ever even been to a police department or prison?

[@dolebiscuit]

I take it you've never been arrested or had to spend time in jail? OP is not wrong.

[@Rowow]

Guy Shepard Yes, have you?

[@Rowow]

Gem Monger And who are you going to report the violated laws to? The police? The same ones who committed them? Kid grow up and get arrested once, the judicial system is far more fucked up then it seems.

[@sungoddessamaterasu5439]

If you did it today all you would need to say is ''It's a prank bro!'' and point to a camera.

[@christopherg2347]

Unless the other person sues you because you admitted to comitting assault on the mental wellbeing for your fun. Personally I see no difference between trying to scar my skin and my psyche. If anything the psychological attack is worse and longer lasting.

[@Voyhkah]

Rather interestingly, the students in the Stanford Prison Expariment weren't the only ones who slipped easily into their roles. Zimbardo himself adjusted very well to the role of Warden and had to have some sense yelled into him.

[@undertasty]

I highly recommend Zimbardo’s book The Lucifer Effect, where he analyzes the Stanford Prison Experiment and other phenomena after decades of reflecting. He doesn’t try to justify for the experiment. Actually he goes to great lenghts to show how flawed and misguided it was. But he has some great insights to human frailty, and how easily we are drawn into situations. And the only protection against it is to acknowledge it.

[@davidhopkins8967]

I think the biggest mistake we can possibly make is to read the analysis of someone so caught up in the experiment that his own girlfriend had to persuade him to stop, only by threatening to leave him. None of the results have been replicated since and most of the guards have since said that they were specifically told to be more sadistic. The worst kind of fake psychology,

[@undertasty]

@@davidhopkins8967 Did you not read my comment? I already explained that the book DOES NOT justify the experiment, DOES NOT gloss it over, and DOES NOT lie about it or try to re-invent it or validate the results. He goes into great detail about every misguided decision, every flaw, and everything that happened. Including how his partner made him see sense. He spesifically calls her the hero of the story for doing that. He wrote the book decades after the experiment, and he has since delved deep into the things that make people act against their better nature, himself included. But the experiment and it’s aftermath is only a part of the book. It goes deep into the phenomena that makes people act with extreme cruelty in war, how entire nations are swayed to follow dictators, how easy it is to make us believe horrendous acts of violence and persecution are ”justified.” I’d argue that is insight into our flaws we need. Yes the experiment was misguided and harmful and not a very good piece of research. ZIMBARDO KNOWS THAT. But it doesn’t mean he hasn’t learned important things, or that he hasn’t done a lot of worthwhile work in his 50+ year career.

[@davidhopkins8967]

@@undertasty yes I did read your comment. Zimbardo has spent years deflecting and gaslighting any criticism of his work from others. In my view he has nothing to add by talking about his own feelings. It’s all just bad science.

[@ChristopherWhiteRock]

When you know 4/5 of these experiments from a college psychology course, and none explained them to be unethical, just the facts of what happened. XD

[@happyfacefries]

I thought they explained well on why it was unethical

[@theosnelson1639]

When did they update the comment section on mobile, its weird

[@HeadShotPR]

It sucks

[@everythingpony]

+HeadShotPR cant like , like if u cant too

[@HeadShotPR]

It did let me dislike ^^

[@pablotafur539]

It's so badddd

[@arisenspirit]

At least we now have more features

[@williammerkel1410]

Sometimes this goes on in home as well, kids will sometimes get punished or physically harmed for getting bad grades, the justification for it is that punishment will encourage them to try better in school.

[@Nif3]

[gone unethical]

[@krovellium]

[gone traumatizing]

[@leerman22]

Vault-Tec calling!

[@adammurphy6651]

Vault 11 was brutal!

[@user-ux2dd9pp8x]

Vault 69 (insert Lenny face)

[@冬-01]

+Poseidon ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@冬-01]

NCR PROUD!!

[@krashd]

Gary!

[@Decglen]

I like to take each SciShow episode title as a challenge. "Oh yeah SciShow? Watch me perform the psychological experiments." or "Watch me digest this grass."

[@1000000man1]

More recently, Michael Stevens of Vsauce and Mind Field conducted the First ever Experiment based on the Trolley Problem. He consulted an ethics board and two Psychologists in order to conduct it without causing Psychological damage to the participants. The results were interesting.

[@infinightmoon6268]

It's worth noting that what you see in Mind Field is edited by KZbin, and not representative of the full study. I believe Michael said elsewhere that they ran several more people through, and the Mind Field episode included the only two who pulled the switch. There were far more people than we see who never actually pulled it.

[@katieeckler7543]

the Stanford prison experiment gives me the chills it's so scary.

[@CloudeAytr]

The Milgram Experiment HAS been done recently, in the past 5 years at least. So it can be done today, I suppose you'd just have to write up the correct legal document for it.

[@ahm7548]

in Denmark they made a reality program about it.

[@valerierodger7700]

No, it has not. The study that "recreated" it used lower-level simulated shocks and responses - there was no simulated responses of extreme distress and potential death. They did this *specifically* to avoid the ethical issues of the Milgram experiment. It's not the Milgram experiment if you're specifically avoiding replicating the conditions of the Milgram experiment.

[@karlrovey]

The Stanford Prison Study was also replicated (without the researchers meddling in order to stir up conflict). It turns out, when you re-create that scenario without a researcher who can have power over your grades, graduation, job recommendations, etc suggesting that the guards be more aggressive and the prisoners be more rebellious, you don't get the problems that occurred in the Stanford experiment. The participants at Standford figured out what Zimbardo wanted from them and complied, believing that it could affect future grades, graduation, and job opportunities.

[@xyz7572]

I know a girl in high school who tried to condition her crush to be excited to see her by always having a bag of his favourite candies in her purse and giving some to him whenever they met. And the thing is, it kind of worked 😆 You could see how he lit up whenever he spotted her in a corridor, and then get this slightly confused look on his face about the strength of his own excitement 😂

[@gabi3742]

i remember seeing this story on tumblr omg

[@wisteria3032]

she's a genius

[@SyntheticFuture]

"the Lucifer principle" is an interesting read about the Stanford prison experiment. Even though the experiment was flawed and it has been refuted it is still quite shocking to read the extend of the abuse in the experiment.

[@empressmarowynn]

I've seen the bystander effect even when it's not a serious situation. It's happened multiple times where I've been watching a movie in a theater and something went wrong with the screen or sound. I would see everyone else looking around but no one would go tell the staff. In every instance where this happened I was the one to go out and tell them. I've never been hesitant about taking initiative but this has happened at least 5 different times that I can remember and each time the rooms were packed, yet it was always me. Statistically this shouldn't be and yet that's what happened.

[@twopunchman9598]

The more you learn about people, the more you like animals. Especially my dog.

[@AProudDad]

I experienced the bystander effect but as the real victim. I got in a bad car accident caused by someone illegally swerving into my lane. As I was able to avoid all collisions, I was the only person really effected, having swerved off into a ditch; the car damaged but no serious damage to me. I'm in my 30's and I've been in a few accidents so I knew the process, I was in shock, I calmed my breathing, put my hazards on and waited to safely exit my vehicle as it had swerved completely away from the busy traffic. Not a single person stopped, including the person who caused me to crash off the side of the road. No one stopped, everyone assumed someone else would stop and I was stuck completely alone. Soon I was in shock simply by how disgusted I was with the driver who caused the accident and everyone who just left me. It's creepy and disheartening.

[@kathrinbeckmann6530]

I like that apparently there needs to be a scientific report for these people to finally conclude that ruining a bunch of orphans self-esteem on purpose and never telling them about the fact it wasn't actually about them as a person is 'unethical'

[@danielaescobar5734]

i seriously cannot escape this man. was studying for a bio exam last week watching him on crash course now im trying to relax and he's narrating this?! im not mad though

[@nublarrex5690]

I'm a little curious why is it called the "monster" expiriment?

[@lokicorgi]

cause people who did the experiment were monsters? idk

[@nublarrex5690]

makes sence

[@nublarrex5690]

i think that falls under child abuse

[@spindash64]

+Godzilla204 To put it bluntly, they were orphans: nobody wanted them, nobody valued them. Is that effed up? Yes, but the brain likes to rationalize others pain when it would otherwise overwhelm you. What changed is that, since it is so much easier for information to go from person to person, and so much harder for things to be quiet, is that the people more responsive to such things were more likely to speak up and bring others to act.

[@nublarrex5690]

I mean you do bring up a good point, but I feel that the experiment is a little insenative even if they are orphans.

[@rox4884]

There were interviews after the Millgram experiment and the volunteers said the reason that the continued was because they thought it was important for science than a little pain and they were told multiple times that the shocks were not fatal.

[@gregcampwriter]

I have to wonder if the bystander effect is actually a distraction effect. The presence of lots of people engaged in a conversation can hold someone's attention.

[@laurelcook9078]

As a person who is a lab coat wearing student, I'd turn around and be like "You're an idiot, bye." if they said "Shock this human with 450 volts."

[@kjones6515]

I'm so glad you have ethics 💜

[@Melissa0774]

I used to participate in paid psychology experiments at Princeton University for many years. It was great. They paid $12 per hour to do small studies, which were usually little games or test that you do on a computer. They'd pay $20 for fMRI scans or eeg. They also had one researcher who was studying muscle memory and he had this machine with a lever underneath, that you pull to shoot dots at a target on the screen. It was like an old Pac Man arcade game. It was a lot of fun. But unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to go back since they shut down the campus during the pandemic and they're not doing much of anything now. I miss doing it and I hope to be able to get back there soon. If you're in high school or college, it's a great way to make extra money on the side and you should look into it.

[@jessekelly8639]

"Subjects would often be poor, while wealthier patients would benefit from the results of the experiments" I think this is very often still true, a lot of places still do paid trials (e.g. for vaccines or treatments of illnesses) and something tells me it's not rich people lining up to do these trials. Yes they are financially compensated but I think it is still an example of poor people being test subjects while the rich benefit from results

[@Sonu-tz2js]

What you said makes sense. Thanks!

[@lochness2864]

I watched this in psychology class the other day. Keep up the good work you guys!

[@CevinChurch]

In 1940s Sweden, when the world was yet to discover what caused tooth decay, people deemed "intellectually disabled" were incarcerated at a place called Vipeholm. When the government researchers wanted to find out what caused tooth decay, these patients were perfect in their minds. The experiments included making patients eat extreme amounts of caramel and chocolate daily for several years. Initially, the confectionary industry in Sweden sponsored the experiments, however when the link between high sugar intake and tooth decay was discovered, the industry turned against the researchers and effectively delayed the publication of the study for about 3 years.

[@Mixa_Lv]

How about 5 highly unethical human experiments that would be damn illegal to perform, but could possibly give us some valuable information?

[@allanperl5107]

This would be cool, no one has done this yet.

[@okaywhynot4728]

This is actually really common with concentration camps back in WW2. In particular, Unit 737 was especially notorious for this, but the leader was actually given immunity from prosecution for his crimes in exchange for the research information. This is real I swear to god

[@nowandaround312]

Mixa Almost all human experiments, if conducted properly, have the chance of giving us useful information. It's pointless to do if people will be seriously harmed in the process or it's done without their informed consent.

[@cherylbaker3319]

It's why I always think how new medical facts often are known by chances be totally unintended/accidental but notice how the outcome then could be worth anything - As penicillin was the result of such insanitary 'lab' where now, not going to be possible in the sanitary experiments like today, yet how great medical now hero named in his science by essentially.. grown fungal in mould reduce but sanitation of the chance that science labs let fungus grow are little or none and essentially brain information we are clueless unless by horrific accidents/medical wrongdoing - for ethical good be save epileptic seizures which were life consuming by known surgical snipping of brain pieces result by moral intent be for good but as a consequence this individual lost his life in terms snipped into parts necessary for memory and essentially he lost his ability to forever form memory again - great knowing but knowing was again ethically by now, not a chance, or be it only by some fluke survival after brain areas are wiped from a still living person, as we study so much but all cases are where medically there has been some horror, loss to life, accidental or pure chance new find huge discoveries, and not to discredit how appreciated the research is by all in the sciences are because without people like them, we would not be anywhere like as advanced we are, but in how vast the benefits from anything but what is unethical, illegal, immoral or worse possible accident naturally, its' how we essentially get the knowledge, dilemma of which no real possible outcome be all fair, so understanding how we got certain things especially in sacrifice of lives before us, I have nothing but gratitude to those never knowing what value they had and never had a life, hope they found peace after what may have been living hell for so many.

[@maverickkillmore2996]

the forbidden experiment or language deprivation experiments

[@jkewzz4126]

the stanford prison experiment was unethical, but it did teach an important lesson, those who have power will always abuse it

[@flotyu]

Thanks. This video really hit home when you were talking about the speech impediments and I realized that you have a severe one, yourself.

[@emilyeslam]

Just started the video, my bets are on Little Albert, Milgram's shock experiment, and the Stanford Prison Experiment being on the list.

[@emilyeslam]

Right on all three counts. Thank you, GCSE psychology.

[@lotus0778]

I used to believe things like this would never occur today, but now I know better. Every day I hear voices meant to change my thought patterns and beliefs. I am also subjected to physical pain with some remote non-lethal weapon used to control me, or rather to attempt to do so. As long as humans think they can get away with it things like this will never stop.

[@trishabayley6669]

I know that voice!! Haaaaank. 'There's a Hank for that' literally got me through my science a levels and first year of my degree lol

[@TriniGamesVI]

"Now he fears even Santa Claus."

[@MrMatt15]

My BNursing class in Sydney watched this in a lecture about Evidence Based Practice; the reach of your content is phenomenal; it's hope giving in a way, to see educational content make it so far around the globe and into so many lives.

[@thisis.michelletorres444]

Eeesh, smiling there when you explain about Albert! Dude! Also, how did you not include the horrific Tuskegee experiment!?

[@Whydidmyhandlechange414]

I remember learning about these studies during my education. Great studies to learn about but so so ethically wrong!

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

So when experimenting with a dog, they decided to focus around making it happy with food, but when experimenting with a human baby, their immidate thought was to make it suffer?

[@GGWalace]

Some of these experiments should be acceptable. The informed consent part invalidates a whole host of social and psychological experiments.

[@nephdrummond3168]

As I've said on a whole bunch of comments by now. If just practices, the kind which prevent legal and ethical issues, somehow invalidate your experiment then it shouldn't be done.

[@KnightRaymund]

then we'll just have to do without. If you can't gather the data in an ethical way then... you can't get the data.

[@TweetBird216]

Milgram was acceptable and still is - it just had to be tweaked a bit.

[@annaf7753]

@@nephdrummond3168 There are some things that are important to study, but require the participants to have only partial knowledge of the study. I think that people should be debriefed with the truth afterward.

[@nephdrummond3168]

Anna F It’s been over two years, cool, that was really insightful though

[@Syphonfllter]

Psychosurgery played a huge part in the Belmont report. Gave us valuable info, at the behest of human suffering.

[@claytonpaisley9721]

I'm really surprised the refrigerator experiment from the late 50s wasn't on here. The study was titled something like "average lbs of pressure exerted by 24 month old children in response to being shut in a refrigerator" or something, but the gist was they wanted to know how much force the average toddler could use when panicked and locked in a tiny cold dark space, so fridge manufacturers could make doors that wouldn't trap children. So they actually trapped a bunch of children in fridge like environments to see how hard they could/would push. It probably traumatized some babies.

[@devilsmessanger]

Don't forget about Vault-tech Experiments !

[@Lukiel666]

Pavlovs response, dogs drooling when they hear a bell. Me: that sounds really weird, OMG Ice Cream Truck, gotta run!

[@LoriMcDonald]

Bystander Effect = Lack of help from people for fear of lawsuits. Good Samaritan Law protects you.

[@spicat16]

I think I'm watching this is 2019 because of Michaels Vsauce episodes. He recreates a lot of these experiments but safely. He's a genius. Hope he gets recognized for it one day.

[@leomadero562]

Safely? He literally did the trolley problem in real life with unconsenting real humans and half of them cried

[@leomadero562]

I mean I like him and all and I don't personally have any real issues with it, but he literally violated at least one of those rules

[@Cjxtreme66]

I can't believe the Tuskegee Experiments were not on this list.

[@patopatoganso1]

I think it's great they did this experiments, they reveal extremely valuable info about the way humans think and behave. The current rules severely limit the efficacy, and capability of experiments to adquire true, meaningful results

[@damienthonk1506]

Some of these experiments didn't prove anything at all. Half of them didn't have control variables, and were essentially rigged or poorly planned from the jump.

[@iicheesecaikii987]

You know you're early when there aren't any dislikes yet.

[@AlexRandomkat]

Well one person must have disliked the video between the time when you saw this 3 minutes ago, and when I watched it...

[@INAVACL]

so u were 3 min too late

[@liljeep9255]

Ik that experiments could really hurt someone, but they help us so much. People have learned so much about the human mind when they didn’t worry about people. I mean these experiments could help us so much and only hurt a few.

[@RrraverCrow]

This man on every channel I swear.

[@jmack4275]

It may be "unethical" but let's face it, without a lot of these studies we wouldn't know half of what we do now about the human mind and how it works...

[@rosella5358]

I did a thesis on the Zimbardo experiment. I absolutely believe he interfered with the experiment in order to reinforce his pre-existing belief. The speech impediment thing is interesting to me. I grew up constantly criticized and berated by my own family. It wasn't until my weird wannabe cultist parents stopped being a part of my life that my speech impediment, physical coordination, and ability to complete basic life skills improved. I now work two customer service jobs, and at 26 am finally going to college to study psychology. If you have that one person in your life who is a net drain, it is absolutely okay to cut them off when you can. You'll be amazed how much your confidence improves.

[@accidental-life]

The Standard Prison Experiment is EXACTLY how jails and prisons are run today.

[@mam362]

All kidding aside, though these studies were unethical, they produced very important insight into the human psyche. Even the little albert study set the stage for research into the role of classical conditioning in specific phobia. The milgram study was relevant to the nuhremberg defense, as was the prison study

[@michellebogenschutz9544]

I took psych 101 at KU back in 1988 and had to sign up for five experiment credits as part of the course. I found myself signed up for what turned out to be the Milgram experiment but with a boss/worker set up to see if noisy environments caused workers to do poor quality work. I turned it down. The administrator of the experiment told me in all his years I was the first person to say no.

[@iWright3747]

thank you this was very helpful for my learning!!1!11!11😀

[@kakam458]

IT'S JUST A PRANK!

[@Dinonuggies214]

The history of psychology will never not be the morbidly fascinating

[@tinahii7480]

Its interesting that management courses at universities still regularly refer to the Milgram experiment, using that as a basis for management techniques and theories, with little to no discussion about the morality of the study itself.

[@ajgeraci7699]

I’ve always subscribed to the thought that ethics does nothing but impede scientific progress

[@elkiness]

Odd experience in college: went into the ''rest room'' and was surprised to hear one girl sobbing and several others sort of shouting at her, accusing her of something. She kept saying "You don't understand; I had to do it, I'd promised." She went into detail--she asked to stop, was urged forcefully to continue...etc. Yes, the Milgram was being redone at my university. (Since so many were shocked at the results.) So I found out more about it...and it was quite terrible. I'm sure it had a bad impact on her life, and perhaps on the girls she told it to--expecting sympathy for a rough experience. My father was a soldier in WWII and was there when concentration camps were just freed. People in the nearby towns said they knew nothing about it, and of course the defence in trials, again and again, was ''I was just following orders''.

[@emberhermin52]

Another flaw in the prison experiment design: he put up ads asking "hey who wants to be in a prison study" to find people for the experiment. So his group was probably looking for excuses to act in these ways to begin with

[@19abhishekbanerjee]

Of all the experiments, little Albert's classical conditioning was the most harrowing one. And the poor little toddler eventually died at the age of 6 after having developed hydrocephalus. Also, he was never quite deconditioned by Dr Watson (experimenter). As grand a revelation it was on the idea of Human Behavioral Psychology, the tragic and the profound mental suffering that was inflicted on the little boy must never be forgotten.

[@lennislommen5083]

What about project MKULTRA? it was one of the main reasons that led to a set of laws

[@Alex-mq6qi]

The Zimbardo experiment had many other flaws, one of which being that Zimbardo himself instructed at least one of the guards to actively embrace the role of a "bad guard" of sorts. He wasn't impartial in the slightest and there's more pointing towards that than just his role as prison supervisor

[@boxfox2945]

It's still being done grotesquely today.. Not just grontanomo prison, or just the prison systems. It's everywhere.

[@mono.isgtds]

traumatising a 9 month old and making people think they’ve murdered someone, the good old days.

[@aeternusdoleo4531]

Fascinating experiments. Glimpses in how humanity will devolve when society gets strained past the breaking point - good pointers for what you'd need to prepare for.

[@wannabehuman]

Hank just summed up almost my entire science of human nature course in 11 minutes

[@rssshuuD897]

The bystander effect… In real life, two weeks ago. Dozens of people stood by and did nothing when a woman was raped on a train in Philadelphia while people video taped… but then again, we live in some dark, social media clout times.

[@loopacute]

Stanford Prison experiment was tried in Denmark a couple of years back. Got shut down quite quick, because it showed to go in the same direction as the Stanford experiment.

[@Prettiest_boy_in_the_mourge]

Along with the trauma Baby Albert suffered, the animals used in the experiment were treated horrible. Lifted off of the ground by their collars, causing them to choke

[@happyfacefries]

The rats wore collars?

[@testerwulf3357]

The bystander effect can be REALLY bad especially in really populated areas. Why? Because the more people there are the more everyone will be thinking “someone else will handle it”. I’ll always remember a good example of this my teacher told me of (unsure if it’s true). A women was raped in an alley in new york, many passing by, she screamed for help the whole time but no one did a thing. After the guy had his fun and left she continued to lay there calling for help, still no one did anything..It’s sick and horrible but oh well.

[@Sonu-tz2js]

Ohh! Such things happen in New York too? I thought atrocities toward women were prerogative of us Indians only:) Guess, I was wrong:)

[@gregsettle9725]

The Belmont Report doesn't seem to be always observed these days. I am a participant in a cancer drug trial. I recall the consent form stating that there is to be no benefit to myself or my relatives. It's one of those "helping mankind" type things. But what it really is is a statement saying you'll not be receiving a penny if the drug should work and we make billions from it!

[@steveserra6757]

if you did this same theme with medical testing then you might blow some folks' minds by mentioning the Tuskegee Experiments. always great Historical info. thank you

[@thajyeebyang2878]

Science experiments that I cant do today? *So, what if I do these experiments tomorrow?*

[@hamishfox]

Some of the people involved in the Stanford prison experiment later came out to say Zimbardo and actually instructed the guards to give out harsh punishments and tried to influence the way the people acted to get the results he was looking for. The man was a charlatan and a hack and only did it to further his career. He is widely regarded as one of the most unethical and disliked scientists in the community and no one takes his work seriously or gives him any respect.